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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Lilly's Wedding Quilt by Kelly Long ~ review

Product Description:

She isn't looking for love. He's mending a broken heart. It will take divine intervention for these two to get together.
Local Amish schoolteacher Lilly Lapp is tired of weddings, afraid of horses, and immersed in caring for her depressed mother. But when Jacob Wyse, a handsome horse breeder from her small community rescues her from a dangerous accident, Lilly discovers a renewed interest in life and the possibility of love.
Yet Jacob has lost the one true love of his life to another man and doesn't care to expose himself to the vulnerabilities of loving again.
God works to bring this unlikely pair into a sweet romance to produce a pattern of faith, which leads to the creation and comfort of Lilly's Wedding Quilt.

My take on this book:
Well this book starts out with a literal bang! When someone steals and Englisher's horse and is shot in the process, I would have never guessed the thief would have turned out to be an Amish man!

Twenty-three year old school teacher Lilly Lapp is a practical amish schoolteacher that loves her job,surrounded by children all day she still feels alone. She lives with her mom, but since her mother is suffering from depression, she stays in her darkened room most days while Lily tends to her. On the day she is supposed to attend a friends wedding, she finds herself running late because the police have just been by her farm looking for a horse thief, one that's been shot. Once on her way, she gets caught in a torrential downpour, she decides to take shelter in an old barn to wait out the rain, never realizing that someone is inside the barn.
The someone turns out to be Jacob Wyse, someone whom captured Lilly's heart when they were in grade school, but Jacob only had eyes for Sarah King, who wedding Lilly is attending, but Sarah is marrying another man! When Lilly realizes Jacob has a gunshot wound she knows he needs medical attention and convinces him to go to the wedding so Sarah's new husband can tend to the wounds.
When the police arrive at the wedding Lilly puts her reputation on the line to save Jacob from the police, and to save her reputation Jacob announces that they are engaged, and they will be married in three weeks.What kind of marriage can they have when Jacob loves another woman?
This was my first time reading anything written by Kelly Long and I love her writing style. She has the ability to transport the reader right into the story, allowing you to feel the emotions that the characters are feeling. Lilly and Jacob's story made me laugh and also made me cry, and by the end I felt as if I was separating from two friends! Jacob comes off as a very strong character, at first I thought he was going to be the wild Amish man but instead he was a kind compassionate soul, who was suffering from a broken heart.

I found the secondary characters in the story quite endearing as well. Jacob's brother Seth was a real charmer,some of the things he and Jacob did were quite funny. I have my fingers crossed that perhaps he will find love with the amish widow that moved to town.
Fans of Amish fiction are going to be swept away by this book, but anyone who loves a good clean romance, that draws you in and allows you to savor a sweet love story should also check it out!

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.